P is for Panda Craft: Pepperoni Pizza

My three year old daughter has loved pandas pretty much since she could talk. I don’t fully remember how it started, but I know she wanted to check out all panda books the first time we went to the library. For our P alphabet craft, I wasn’t thinking and we did P is for pig. Before we move on to the next letter, I want to fix skipping panda and do a P is for panda craft. Another of my daughter’s first words was “za” meaning pizza. So, making a panda shaped pizza for our Ps seemed like the perfect plan.

How to Make a P is for Panda Craft With P Supplies

Supplies:

• Bagels
• Pizza sauce
• Cheese
• Pepperoni
• Cheese stick (optional)

Making the P Shaped Pizzas:

Bagel pizzas are the perfect beginner level cooking item for kids. If you want more in depth instructions, check out my post on how to make plain non-panda bagel pizzas.

Before getting my kids involved, I got the bagels themselves ready. I placed two halves of a bagel face up on a pizza sheet. Then, I cut pieces off another bagel half to make the tail of the P. When I was happy with the shape, I called my kids over to their learning tower.

While my daughter has made these several times before, my one and a half year old son helped for the first time. I gave them both plastic spoons and a jar of pizza sauce to spread on the bagels. The below pictures crack me up because my kids look like they are working in perfect harmony and cleanliness. It reality, it was complete chaos as I tried to keep my son focused on the sauce making it to the bagel.

Once we finished with the sauce, it was time to move on to the cheese. I removed my son from helping at this point. We will have to try again with just him or when I have another pair of hands to help direct him. Now, we had two P shaped cheese pizzas.

Making the Pizzas Into Pandas:

Then, it was time to get our Ps looking more panda-like. I used a picture of Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons’ panda pita for inspiration. With my son’s chaos contained to his high chair, I was able to prep the pepperoni features. Each panda needed 2 full pepperoni ears, 2 full eyes, 2 cut inner eyes, 1 cut nose, and 1 cut mouth. Then, I took a cheese stick and cut two thin pieces per panda for the middle part of the eye.

I handed my daughter each body part of her P is for panda craft one at a time. First, she did the ears. There wasn’t really room on the bagel for the ears, so she just put them above it. Then, she did the eyes. She layered a full pepperoni, a cheese stick slice, and a small cut pepperoni to make the signature panda eye markings. Lastly, she added the nose and the mouth.

After some time cooking in the oven, my kids got yummy pepperoni pizza panda Ps for lunch.

Conclusion of Our P is for Panda Craft:

After two food alphabet crafts in a row that actually turned out, I feel pretty good about this one. My daughter had lots of fun making both pizza and a panda. My son enjoyed helping until I exiled him. The real test will be if we can ever make plain bagel pizzas again. What do your kids like helping with in the kitchen?

If your child also likes pandas, check out this fun tissue paper panda craft. Also, take a look at our previous fun alphabet crafts. And don’t miss out on the coming letters by subscribing to my weekly newsletter at the bottom of the page.